Alternative four-piece Swimming With Bears is on a mission. The Austin-based group has been tirelessly honing its groovy sound since releasing its self-titled debut EP in 2016. Energy and style, from smooth lead guitar riffs to driven bass lines held steady by slick rhythms, are the keys to SWB’s feel-good soul. The new single “French Girls” made an impact back in February and earned the band its first national tour, along with opening slots for the likes of Weezer and Panic! at the Disco.

Tuesday, May 8. $10, 6pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.

The award-winning Charlottesville High School Orchestra String Ensemble breaks out of an academic setting to put a new twist on a classic fairy tale. Directed by Laura Mulligan Thomas (right), the ensemble’s rendition of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf is accompanied by narration from

Girl Choir is distortion driven. The Chuggernauts opt for a punk-rock pirate vibe. And while The Unholy Four strives for old-school hard rock, Wild Rose keeps it modern as a quartet. Expect a blend of grit and tenderness when punk rock meets punk ‘n’ roll during an evening with these four local

Kyle Thomas, known by his moniker King Tuff, hit rock bottom last year—and it was exactly what he needed. With his most recent album The Other, he’s traded in his “party monster” persona for an authentic, vulnerable musician who refuses to stick to one particular sound. His sax lessons come

If you’ve ever listened to somebody tell a joke when they’ve clearly lost track of the punchline, you know the experience of watching The Upside. Full of good intentions and boundless charisma between the performers, every moment of real tension in the film is diffused before getting to the

Leslie Jamison writes in the beginning of The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath, “I wanted to know if stories about getting better could ever be as compelling as stories about falling apart. I needed to believe they could.” The author of the New York Times bestselling essay collection

In 2016, Leslie Odom, Jr. found himself at the center of a cultural moment as Aaron Burr in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop-meets-history musical had broken box office records, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and saw Odom, Jr. beat out Miranda for best

Before 2018 completely disappears in our rear-view mirrors, here’s a recap of some box sets released last year that weren’t The Beatles’ White Album or Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks box. Tom Petty An American Treasure (Reprise) In 1995 Tom Petty released the 6-CD Playback box, and, especially

Caitlin Canty is a weaver—and her threads are folk, blues, and country music. Loyal to no genre, Canty creates listening experiences with her 1930s Recording King guitar, while her “casually devastating” vocals shape dark poetry into dreamy alternative folk tunes. The young but wise songstress’

A popular performer who’s lovingly referred to as the queen of Virginia gospel music, Cora Harvey Armstrong makes every day feel like Sunday. Her songwriting is inspired by her poet grandfather while her mother’s turntable, stacked with Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward Singers records, influenced

Based on James Baldwin’s novel of the same name, Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk is a moving, absorbing experience dedicated to truth and beauty in a world of deceit. Told with the same patience and elegance as his previous film, Moonlight, Beale Street is a tale of young love, a

One week before the winter solstice, the weather is nasty in Charlottesville and it’s cold as fuck inside Magnolia House. The four members of hardcore punk band Fried Egg—guitarist Tyler Abernethy, bassist Sam Richardson, drummer Sam Roberts, and vocalist Erik Tsow—sit on mismatched couches and

By Sabrina Moreno If you ask Kelly Lonergan, he’s not a figure painter. The figures he paints on 48 by 60 inch canvas—a scale that excites him—are slightly awkward, clunky. But to him, that’s the best part. It gives them a sense of personality for viewers to cling and relate to. In his show

Back in 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared that podcasting was “the next generation of radio.” When the company began supporting podcasts on iTunes that same year (so users could easily download the audio shows onto an iPod, where the name originated), the medium gained steam, and lately

As the year winds down and awards season approaches, movies that most audiences have never heard of begin to dominate the film news cycle. Limited releases, festival favorites, and critical darlings become the movies to watch according to tastemakers and award-giving organizations, but it can

By CM Gorey Photography rules our lives now. And unless you’re a staunch Luddite with something to prove, you’re a contributor and a consumer from first coffee cup through alarm-setting before bed. We have transitioned from the point-and-shoot, badly lit grease fests of 1980s homespun glossies

Lady Sag, as in Sagittarius, doesn’t follow the average hip-hop path. She’s all about the signs, branching out, and alternating between gospel, ballads, and country songs. As one of 10 featured local artists in New Year, New Vibes with Bam Bam, Sav, Tae Da God, and Tavi, Lady Sag says we can

His middle part is nearly as symmetrical as the real Ozzy Osbourne’s—and with the signature circular sunglasses and a feature in Rolling Stone, Lin Doak, the 4’8″ frontman of Little Ozzy (right), is well on his way to inheriting the crown from the original Prince of Darkness. Little

Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno (left) push back against the mainstream with a fiddle roots revivalist twist. The duo has spent years honing their rhythmic craft. From Leva’s folk music-filled upbringing in Appalachia, and being one of Rolling Stone Country’s “10 New Artists You Need to Know,”

In 2018, over 50 authors living and working in the Charlottesville area published new books. They built fictional worlds populated by talking animals, anti-terrorist teenage space fighters, and ordinary humans trying to find the truth. They documented last year’s violent white supremacist rally

As much as we love words, it’s the photographs–and our incredibly talented team of freelance photographers–that really make our stories sing. Here is just a handful of the images that were captured this year.